Various aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to player tracking services and player rating services implemented at live casino gaming environments.
Player tracking programs are offered at gaming establishments for various reasons, including the desire to attain and/or maintain a player's interest in game play. (Although there are many types of gaming establishments, including casinos, cruise ships, riverboats, etc., all types of gaming establishments may be referred to herein as “casinos.”)
In general, casino operators have an interest in collecting the information relating to their patrons (e.g., players). Conventionally, such information may include player tracking data relating to individual player activities and/or other characteristics. As an incentive to get players to elect to have their game play activities tracked, casino operators typically offer players membership in player tracking programs which provide various rewards to the players.
Player tracking programs provide rewards to players that typically correspond to the player's level of patronage, e.g., to the player's playing frequency and/or total amount of game plays at a given casino. Player tracking rewards may include free meals, free lodging and/or free entertainment. Some such complimentary rewards are often referred to as “comps.” Player tracking rewards may help to sustain a game player's interest in additional game play during a visit to a gaming establishment and may entice a player to visit a gaming establishment to partake in various gaming activities.
Player tracking programs may be applied to any game of chance offered at a gaming establishment. In particular, player tracking programs are very popular with players of mechanical slot gaming machines and video slot gaming machines. In a gaming machine, a player tracking program is implemented using a player tracking unit installed in the gaming machine and in communication with a remote player tracking server.
Presently, casino patron player tracking mechanisms have typically involved the use of individualized player tracking cards (e.g., where a player is assigned a unique player tracking card with unique player tracking ID), which may be used to determine the identity of a player at a given gaming machine or gaming table.